Janna Clinton sat on her back porch on a Saturday in July as she watched her 11-year-old son cast a line in the pond behind their house in Oklahoma.
In response to Charlie’s cries for help, his mother jumped out of her chair and sprinted over to her son, who was astonished by the creature hanging from the end of his fishing line.
Bass and catfish love to be caught and released in the neighborhood pond of the Clintons. But over the weekend of July 14, Charlie came across a strange species and asked his mother, Janna, for assistance.
He cried out, “Oh my God, Mom!”. Oh my God! The mother exclaimed. “I honestly thought he was just being dramatic. “.
When she looked more closely, she noticed that the catch had teeth that resembled those of a human.
I mean, nothing with human-like teeth,” she said, adding that the fish fought hard. “Obviously, we’re used to catching a few bass or catfish in a nearby pond. Charlie said that the battle was fierce. He was the only person fishing there, and he was excellent. “.
The Clintons uploaded a picture of the peculiar fish to the neighborhood’s Facebook page, where neighbors who saw it left comments. One person wrote, “THOSE ARE HUMAN TEETH,” while another said, “What in the world!?!?” That’s strange!”.
The family should interact with wildlife, some people suggested. Thank you for taking it seriously, one user writes, adding, “You might want to report that to someone in wildlife or something. That is not a catch-and-release situation.”.
The family put the fish back in the pond before approaching wildlife to tell them about their day’s unusual catch. It’s a catch-and-release pond, and we returned it because, at the time, we had no better knowledge, according to Janna.
There was an error on our part.
“.
Charlie had caught a pacu, which is a piranha’s cousin from South America, the family discovered. In contrast to its omnivorous relatives, which have razor-sharp teeth and an underbite, the pacu has square teeth and a slight overbite.
Wildlife officials believe it was a pet that outgrew its tank and was released into the wild. It is unknown how it came to be in the pond in a suburb north of Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) posted the following message on Twitter: “Dear, whoever released an entire Pacu (a South American fish closely related to the Piranha); how dare you. “.
The Tweet sparked discussion online, and many people were shocked by its razor-sharp fangs.
Dear, whoever released an entire Pacu (a South American fish closely related to Piranha) into a NEIGHBORHOOD pond;
— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (@OKWildlifeDept) July 18, 2023
how dare you. pic.twitter.com/WwQqJ9REAz
One perplexed user questioned, “WHY DOES IT HAVE HUMAN TEETH?”.
ODWC replied, “IDK WE DIDN’T MAKE THEM,” and then immediately followed up with, “Charlie Clinton caught your fish. ” He is 11. AVOID LETTING YOUR PETS OUT. THEY ARE AN EXOTIC, INVASIVE SPECIES WHOSE IMPACT COULD BE DANGEROUS TO OUR LOCAL ECOSYSTEMS. This could result in a terrible situation that is extremely dangerous for the environment.
Oklahoma had previously seen the discovery of a pacu. Less than two hours away from the Clintons, Kennedy Smith, 11, snatched up a pacu in July 2018 from Marina Cove at ft. Cobb Lake.
Pacu have been found in a few Oklahoma fisheries in the past, the Oklahoma Game Wardens wrote in a Facebook post at the time. The non-native pacu was probably released into Oklahoman waters after people who had bought them as pets outgrew the tanks in which they were raised had raised them. Pacu weighs 88 pounds and has a height limit of 3 points 5 feet. “.
These strange fish, despite usually being safe for humans, have the terrifying nickname “the ball cutters.”. “.
Swedish skinny-dippers were warned after a pacu was spotted in the Oresund Sound in 2011.
Henrik Carl, a fish expert, stated: “There have been incidents in other countries, such as Papua New Guinea, where some men had their testicles bit off and died as a result.”.
Carl explained that the reason why they bite is because they are hungry and their testicles fit comfortably in their mouths.
He continued, “But human testicles are just a natural target.
It normally eats nuts, fruit, and small fish. “.
Charlie has been chasing the pacu at the pond in the meantime in an effort to lure it with bait once more.
Janna recalled her son’s late-night attempts to catch the prized catch, saying, “He did stay at the ponds pretty late that night trying to catch it again.” Janna’s son fishes from early in the morning until late at night. “We’ll have it mounted for him if he manages to catch it again. I promised him we’d make the fish smile so you could see its teeth.
That’s a great prize, and he deserves it.
“.
The pacu is a terrifying fish, but despite this, we feel sorry for the poor thing that was taken from its natural habitat and then released into a new one when its owner was unable to take care of it. The most significant reason why this behavior is dangerous is the harm it causes to the environment.
